Footwear Lacing System

ABSTRACT

A lacing system for footwear of a type having a pair of spaced-apart flaps that are pulled together by tightening a lace includes a plurality of lace-receiving elements which are attachable to the flaps at multiple locations which allows the user to tailor the location of the lace-receiving elements to obtain a comfortable fit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Boots and other footwear have opposed flaps which cover the tongue atthe front of the boot. The ends of a lace, which is placed through eyesor around hooks in a zigzag pattern, are pulled to draw the flapstogether and tighten the boot on the user's foot. However, peoples' feetare unique, and even for a given shoe size any particular pattern of theeyes or hooks on the flaps does not provide a comfortable fit foreveryone.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The subject invention provides a lacing system having lace-receivingelements, which are attachable to their respective flaps at multiplelocations, thereby allowing the lacing pattern to be varied to betterfit the foot of a user.

The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of theinvention will be more readily understood upon consideration of thefollowing detailed description of the invention taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is front view of a portion of a boot showing one embodiment ofthe lacing system of the subject invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view, at an enlarged scale,taken along the line 2-2 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing two different embodiments of anattachment system with one embodiment showing the lace-receiving elementseparated from the system.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing two additional embodiments of anattachment system with one embodiment showing the lace-receiving elementseparated from the system.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a portion of a boot showing another embodimentof the lacing system of the subject invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the lace-receiving element of the lacingsystem of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the lace-receiving element of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a front view of a portion of a boot showing the lacing systemof FIG. 7.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 11-11 of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIGS. 1,7 and 10 of the drawings, a boot 20, or otherfootwear, has a pair of opposed flaps 22, which are drawn together by alacing system 24 to tighten the boot on a user's foot. The flaps haveinwardly facing elongate margins 26. Attached to the margins 26 are aplurality of lace-receiving elements 30. A lace 32 extends betweenlace-receiving elements 30 on opposed flaps in a zigzag pattern suchthat when the extremities 34 of the lace are pulled, the lace actsthrough the lace-receiving elements 30 to draw the opposed flaps towardone another to tighten the boot on the user's foot. The lace-receivingelements 30 are attachable to the flaps 22 at multiple locations on theflaps. This allows the manner in which the flaps are drawn toward oneanother to be adjusted in order that the lacing system is tightened in acomfortable manner for a given user.

The lace-receiving elements 30 are attached to the flaps 22 by anattachment system 36. In a first embodiment, shown in FIGS. 1-3, theattachment system comprises a pair of elongate rails 38, which arelocated adjacent to the inwardly facing edges of the flaps. In theembodiment illustrated, the rails are circular in cross-section and haveoutwardly extending flat tabs 40, which are attached to the margins 26of the flaps 22. The tabs 40 can be sewn onto the flaps as shown in thedrawings, or attached by adhesive or any other attachment method.

The rails 38 are made from a material that is flexible enough to bendwith the flaps to which they are attached but stiff enough to remaingenerally linear. In this embodiment, the lace-receiving elements 30 areattached to sliders 42, which are slidably attached to the rails. Thesliders wrap around the rails 38 and have openings 43 through which thetabs 40 fit. In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the openings 43located on the sliders are opposite the lace-receiving elements 30, butthey could be slightly offset from one another. The lace-receivingelements 30 can be eyes 44 or hooks 46. When the lace is loose, thesliders 42 can be moved to any desired position along the rails 38.However, due to the zigzag pattern of the lace, when the lace istightened the sliders are twisted slightly on the rails and become fixedat their current position.

Referring now to FIGS. 4-6, in another embodiment the sliders 42 andrails 38 contain a locking system 48, which allows the sliders to belocated immovably at selected locations along the rail. The lockingsystem 48 includes slots 50 located at spaced-apart locations along thetabs 40. The slots 50 are slightly longer than the sliders 42 and have awidth that is slightly less than the width of the sliders. In thisembodiment, the openings 43 in the sliders 42 are oriented approximately90° from the lace-receiving elements 30. When a slider is rotated aroundthe rail 38 to a first position (FIG. 6), the locking mechanism isdisengaged and the slider is free to slide along the rail. When theslider 42 is rotated approximately 90° to a second position (FIG. 5),the slider is located in the slot 50, which engages the locking system48 and prevents the slider from moving along the rail. Because theopenings 43 in the sliders 42 are oriented approximately 90° withrespect to the lace-receiving elements 30, the locking mechanism isengaged when the lace-receiving elements 30 are rotated to where thelocking mechanism is engaged when the lace 32 is tightened.

In another embodiment, shown in FIGS. 7-11, the attachment system 36includes a plurality of seats 52 located in the flaps 22. The seats areplaced at spaced-apart locations along the longitudinal extent of theflaps and at different locations relative to the inside edges of theflaps. The seats have elongate receptacles 54 located in them. Thereceptacles open out of the top surface of the seats 52 and extendtoward one side of the seats below the top surface of the seats. Clips56 have downwardly-depending elongate anchors 58, which fit into thereceptacles and can be moved into the portion of the receptacles belowthe top surface of the seats where they cannot be pulled back out of thereceptacles. The clips 56 contain the lace-receiving elements 30, witheither eyes 44 or hooks 46.

In use, clips 56 are placed in the desired seats 52 and moved toward thecenter of the boot to place the anchors in the position below the topsurface of the bases. The laces are then fed through the lace-receivingelements in the normal manner. When the lace is tightened, it urges theanchors into the portion of the receptacles that is below the topsurface of the bases and locks them in place.

The terms and expressions that have been employed in the foregoingspecification are used therein as terms of description and not oflimitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms andexpressions of excluding equivalents of the features shown and describedor portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the inventionis defined and limited only by the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for lacing footwear having a pair ofspaced-apart elongate flaps, which are pulled toward one another bylaces: comprising a) a plurality of lace-receiving elements, at leastsome of said lace-receiving elements being attached to each of saidflaps; wherein b) at least some of said lace-receiving elements areattachable to the respective flap at multiple locations on said flap. 2.The system of claim 1 including an attachment system for attaching saidlace-receiving elements at desired locations on said flaps.
 3. Thesystem of claim 2 wherein said attachment system comprises: a) a pair ofrails, one of which extends longitudinally along a margin of each saidflap; b) one or more sliders, which are attached to and slidable alongsaid rails; and c) lace-receiving elements, which are located on saidsliders.
 4. The lacing system of claim 3 wherein said lace-receivingelements are hooks.
 5. The lacing system of claim 3 wherein saidlace-receiving elements are eyes.
 6. The lacing system of claim 3wherein said sliders include a lock, which prevents said sliders fromsliding along said rails.
 7. The lacing system of claim 6 wherein saidsliders rotate around said rails between a first position where saidlock is disengaged and a second position where said lock is engaged. 8.The lacing system of claim 7 wherein said slider is urged toward saidsecond position when a lace on said lacing system is tightened.
 9. Thelacing system of claim 2 wherein said attachment system comprises: a) aplurality of receptacles located in said flaps; b) a plurality oflace-receiving clips; wherein c) said receptacles and saidlace-receiving clips include an engagement system, which allows one ofsaid lace-receiving clips to be removeably attached to one of saidreceptacles.
 10. The lacing system of claim 9 wherein saidlace-receiving clips are eyes.
 11. The lacing system of claim 9 whereinsaid lace-receiving clips are hooks.